Louis Blériot

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Louis Blériot
Born Louis Charles Joseph Blériot
1 July 1872(1872-07-01)
Cambrai, France[1]
Died 2 August 1936(1936-08-02) (aged 64)
Paris, France
Nationality French
Occupation Inventor and engineer
Known for First heavier-than-air flight across the English Channel,
first working monoplane
Spouse Alice Védère (1901) =
Awards Légion d'honneur
Prix Osiris

Louis Charles Joseph Blériot (1 July 1872 – 2 August 1936) was a French aviator, inventor and engineer. He developed the first practical headlamp for cars and established a profitable business manufacturing and making them, using much of the money he made to finance his attempts to build a successful aircraft. In 1909 he became world famous for making the first flight across the English Channel in a heavier than air aircraft[2], winning the prize of £1,000[3] offered by the Daily Mail newspaper.[4][5][6] He was also the first to make a working, powered, piloted monoplane.[7] and the founder of a successful aircraft manufacturing company.

Contents

[edit] Early years

Born in at No.17 rue de l'Arbre à Poires (now rue Sadi-Carnot) in Cambrai[8], Louis was the first of five children born to Clémance and Charles Blériot. At the age of 10 he was sent as a boarder to the Institut Notre Dame in Cambrai, where he frequently won class prizes, includng one for drawing. When he was 15 he moved on to the Lycée at Amiens, where he lived with an aunt. After passing the exams for his Bacclaureat in Science and German he determined to try to enter the prestigious École Centrale Paris. Entrance was by a demanding exam for which special tuition was necessary and so Blériot spent a year the Collège Sainte-Barbe in Paris. He passed the entrance exam, being placed 74th in the list of 243 successful candidates, and doing especially well in the tests of drawing ability. After three years of demanding study at the École Centrale he graduated, coming 113th of the 203 who graduated in his year. He then had to perform a term of compulsory military service, and spent a year as a sub-lieutenant in the 24th Artillery Regiment stationed in Tarbes in the Pyrenees. He then got a job with Baguès, an electrical engineering company in Paris.[9] He left the company after developing the world's first practical headlamp for automobiles, using an compact integral acetylene generator. In 1897 he opened a showroom at 41 rue de Richlieu in Paris. The business was successful, and soon Blériot was supplying his lamps to both Renault and Panhard-Levassor, two of the foremost automobile manufacturers of the day.[10]

[edit] Early aviation experiments

Blériot had become interested in aviation while at the Ecole Centrale, but his serious experimentation was probably sparked by seeing Clément Ader's Avion III at the 1900 Exposition Universelle. By then his business was doing well enough for Blériot to be able to devote both time and money to experimentation. His first experiments were with a series of ornithopters, which were unsuccessful. In April 1905 Blériot met Gabriel Voisin, then employed by Ernest Archdeacon to assist with his experimental gliders. Bleriot was a spectator at Voisin's first trials of the floatplane glider he had built on 8 June 1905. Cine photography was among Bleriot's hobbies, and the film footage of this flight was shot by him. The success of these trials prompted him to commission a similar machine from Voisin, the Blériot II glider. . On 18 July an attempt to fly this aircraft was made, ending in a crash in which Voisin nearly drowned, but this did not deter Blériot. Indeed, he suggested that Voisin should stop working for Archdeacon and enter into partnership with him. Voisin accepted the proposal, and the two men established the Ateliers d' Aviation Edouard Surcouf, Blériot et Voisin. Active between 1905 and 1906, the company built two unsuccessful aircraft designs, both powered, the Blériot III and the Blériot IV, largely a rebuild of its predecessor.[11]

The Blériot V canard monoplane, built in January 1907

The Blériot IV was damaged in a taxying accident at Bagatelle on 12 November 1906. The disappointment of the failure of his aircraft was compounded by the success of Alberto Santos Dumont later that day, when he managed to fly his 14-bis a distance of 220 metres (720 ft), winning the Aéro Club de France prize for the first flight of over 100 metres. This also took place at Bagatelle, and was witnessed by Blériot. The partnership with Voisin was dissolved and Blériot established his own business, Recherches Aéronautiques Louis Blériot, where he started creating his own aircraft, experimenting with various configurations[12] and eventually creating the world's first successful powered monoplane.

The first of these, the canard configuration Blériot V, was first tried on 21 March 1907[13], when Blériot limited his experiments to ground runs, which resulted in damage to the undercarriage. Two further ground trials, also damaging the aircraft, were undertaken, followed by another attempt on 5 April. The flight was only of around 6 m (20 ft), after which cut his engine and landed, slightly damaging the undercarriage. More trials followed, the last on 19 April when, travelling at a speed of around 50 kph (30 kph), the aircraft left the ground, Bleriot over-responded when the nose began to rise, and the machine hit the ground nose–first, and somersaulted. The machine was largely destroyed, but Bleriot was by great good fortune unhurt. The engine of the aircraft was immediately behind his seat, and he was very lucky not to have been crushed by it.

Later that year he flew the more successful Blériot VII, a monoplane with tail surfaces arranged in what has become, apart from its use of differential elevator movement for lateral control, the modern conventional layout. This aircraft, which first flew on 16 November 1907, has been recognised as the first successful monoplane.[14][15] On 6 December Blériot managed two flights of over 500 metres, including a successful U-turn. This was the most impressive achievement to date of any of the French pioneer aviators, causing Patrick Alexander to write to Major Baden Baden-Powell, president of the Royal Aeronautical Society, "I got back from Paris last night. I think Blériot with his new machine is leading the way". Two more successful flights were made on 18 December, but the undercarriage collapsed after the second flight: the aircraft overturned and was wrecked.

Blériot's next aircraft, the Blériot VIII was shown to the Press in February 1908. This was a failure in its first form, but after modifications it flew well. On 31 October 1908 he succeeded in making a cross-country flight, making a round trip from Toury to Arteny and back, a total distance of 28 km (17 mi). This was not the first cross country flight by a narrow margin, since Henri Farman had flown from Bouy to Rheims the preceding day. Four days later the aircraft was destroyed in a taxying accident. Three different aircraft were displayed at the first Paris Aero Salon held in December 1908: the Blériot IX, a monoplane powerd by an Antoinette engine, the Blériot X, a pusher biplane which never flew, and the prototype Blériot XI, which was first flown on 18 January 1909.[16]

The first Bleriot XI in early 1909

This was shortly followed by the Blériot XII, a high wing two-seater monoplane first flown on 21 May.

On 16 June 1909 and Gabriel Voisin were jointly awarded the Prix Osiris,[17] awarded by the Institut de France every three years to the Frenchman who had made the greatest contribution to science.

[edit] Channel crossing

Blériot crossing the Channel on 25 July 1909
Louis Blériot 1909.JPG
The scene shortly after arrival

After years of honing his piloting skills, Blériot decided to try for the thousand-pound prize offered by the Daily Mail for a successful crossing of the English Channel in a heavier-than-air aircraft. The Channel had been crossed by an unmanned hydrogen balloon in 1784[18] and a manned crossing by Jean-Pierre Blanchard and John Jeffries followed in 1785.[19][20]

Blériot had two rivals for the prize, both of whom failed to complete the crossing. The first was Hubert Latham, a French national of English extraction. He was favoured by both the United Kingdom and France to win. The other was Charles de Lambert, a Russian aristocrat with French ancestry, and one of Wilbur Wright's students. In July 1909, the three rivals all arrived at the seaside town of Calais, France. Latham had arrived first, and attempted the crossing on 19 July, but 6 miles (9.7 km) from his destination the Antoinette IV developed engine trouble and was forced to make the world's first landing of an aircraft on the sea.[21] Latham was rescued by the French destroyer Harpon.[21]. Lambert was injured in a major crash during a test flight, forcing him to quit the competition.

The French government provided the destroyer Escopette to escort and observe his aircraft during the flight. Blériot flew the Blériot XI, powered by a 25-horsepower, Anzani 3-cylinder engine with a two-bladed fixed-pitch wooden propeller. His engine was barely as powerful as the smallest outboard motor found on a modern day pleasure boat.[22]

After a sleepless night, partly due to the burns Blériot had sustained when the asbestos insulation of the exhaust pipe of the Blériot XII had worked loose three weeks previously,[23] He took off at 4:41 am[24] as dawn broke (competition rules required a daylight flight) on 25 July 1909. He later reported, in a telegram to The Washington Post, that he had needed to accelerate his engine to 1,200 revolutions per minute, almost its top speed, to clear telegraph wires at the edge of the cliff near the runway's field. Then he reduced his speed to give the XI an average airspeed of approximately 40 mph (64 km/h) at an altitude of about 250 ft (76 m). Soon after, the weather conditions worsened, with visibility becoming poor. Blériot lost sight of any landmarks, and rapidly outpaced the destroyer escort. He stated: “for more than 10 minutes I was alone, isolated, lost in the midst of the immense sea, and I did not see anything on the horizon or a single ship”.[6]

The Blériot Memorial on the site of his landing near the cliffs above Dover (the bicycle handlebars are not part of the memorial)

The landing was in turbulent weather, causing problems for Blériot: rain was cooling the engine, putting it in danger of stalling, and the strong wind was blowing him off course. As Blériot reduced his airspeed for the landing, the gusts of wind nearly caused his plane to crash from an altitude of 67 ft (20 m), when he cut off the engine. The landing severely damaged his landing gear, along with the propeller. However, the rest of the aeroplane was in good order and the landing was deemed successful. The flight had taken 37 minutes and Blériot immediately became a celebrity. The Blériot Memorial, the outline of the aircraft laid out in granite setts in the turf, marks his landing spot above the cliffs near Dover Castle. 51°07′52″N 1°19′34″E / 51.1312°N 1.326°E / 51.1312; 1.326.

[edit] Later life

Between 1909 and the outbreak of World War I in 1914, Blériot produced more than 800 aircraft, most of them variations of the Type XI model.[citation needed] Blériot monoplanes and Voisin-type biplanes, with the latter's Farman derivatives dominated the pre-war aviation market.[25] There were concerns about the safety of monoplanes in general, both in France and the UK. The French government grounded all monoplanes in the French Army from February 1912 after accidents to four Blériots, but lifted it after trials in May supported Blériot's analysis of the problem and led to a strengthening of the landing wires. The brief but influential ban on the use of monoplanes by the Military Wing (though not the Naval Wing) in the UK was triggered by accidents to other manufacturer's aircraft; Blériots were not involved.[26]

Along with five other European aircraft builders, from 1910 Blériot was involved in a five year legal struggle with the Wright Brothers over the latter's wing warping patents. The Wrights' claim was dismissed in the French and the German courts.[27]

From 1913 or earlier,[28] Blériot's aviation activities were handled by Blériot Aéronautique, based at Suresnes, which continued to design and produce aircraft up to the nationalization of most of the French aircraft industry in 1937, when it was absorbed into SNCASO[29][30]

In 1913, a consortium led by Blériot bought the Société pour les Appareils Deperdussin airplane manufacturer and he became the president of the company in 1914. He renamed it the Société Pour L'Aviation et ses Dérivés (SPAD); this company produced World War I fighter planes such as the SPAD S.XIII.

Before World War I Blériot had opened British flying schools at Brooklands, in Surrey and at Hendon Aerodrome.[31] Realising that a British company would have more chance a selling his models to the British government, he set up the Blériot Manufacturing Aircraft Company Ltd. in 1915. The hoped for orders did not follow, as the Bleriot design was seen as dated. Following an unresolved conflict over control of the company, it was wound up on 24 July 1916.[32] Even before the closure of this company Bleriot was planning a new venture in the UK. Initially named Bleriot and SPAD Ltd and based in Addlestone, it became the Air Navigation and Engineering Company ( ANEC) in May 1918. ANEC survived in a difficult aviation climate until late 1926, producing Bleriot Whippet cars as well as several light aircraft.[33]

In 1927 Blériot, long retired from flying, was present to welcome Charles Lindbergh when he landed at Le Bourget field completing his transatlantic flight. The two men, separated in age by thirty years, had each made history by crossing famous bodies of water. Together they participated in a famous photo opportunity in Paris.

In 1934, Blériot visited Newark Airport in New Jersey and predicted commercial overseas flights by 1938.[34]

[edit] Death

Blériot remained active in the aviation business until his death on 2 August 1936 in Paris of a heart attack.[35] He was interred in the Cimetière des Gonards in Versailles.

[edit] Legacy

In his honor, the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale established the "Louis Blériot medal" in 1936. The medal may be awarded up to three times a year to record setters in speed, altitude and distance categories in light aircraft, and is still being awarded.[36]

On 25 July 2009, the centenary of the original Channel crossing, Frenchman Edmond Salis took off from Blériot Beach in an exact replica of Blériot's monoplane. He landed successfully in Kent at the Duke of York's Royal Military School.[37]

[edit] In popular culture

  • In 2002, the English train company Virgin Trains introduced a new type of train called British Rail Class 221. One of these trains (number 221 101) was named Louis Blériot.[38]
  • In 2006, Rivendell Bicycle Works introduced a bicycle model named the "Blériot 650B" as a tribute to Blériot. It features his portrait on the seat tube.[39]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Centennial of Flight, US government
  2. ^ The first flight across the English Channel was made in 1785 using a hydrogen balloon
  3. ^ $5,000 at the exchange rate of the time
  4. ^ Blériot, Louis (25 July 1909). "Bleriot Tells of his Flight" (PDF). The New York Times. 26 July 1909. ISSN 0362-4331. OCLC 1645522. http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9907E2DE1F31E733A25755C2A9619C946897D6CF. Retrieved 26 July 2009. "I rose at 2:30 this (Sunday) morning, and, finding that the conditions were favorable, ordered the torpedo boat destroyer Escopette, which had been placed at my disposal by the French Government, to start. Then I went to the garage at Sangatte and found that the motor worked well." 
  5. ^ "The New Daily Mail Prizes" (PDF). Flight (London, U.K.: F. King and Co.) 5 (223): 393. 5 April 1913. ISSN 0015-3710. OCLC 6674288. http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1913/1913%20-%200387.html. Retrieved 25 July 2009. "£1,000 for flight across the channel between England and France, to be accomplished in daylight without touching the sea. Offered on October 5th, 1908. Won by M. Blériot, July 25th, 1909 ." 
  6. ^ a b Clark, Nicola (24 July 2009). "100 Years Later, Celebrating a Historic Flight in Europe". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. OCLC 1645522. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/25/world/europe/25crossing.html. Retrieved 25 July 2009. "Mr. Blériot informed The Daily Mail of his intention to compete and set up his plane near the beach at Les Barraques. At 4:41 a.m. on July 25, in near-perfect weather conditions, Mr. Blériot took to the air, the plane’s engine belching clouds of black smoke. He skirted the French coastline and then veered north, flying about 30 yards above the water." 
  7. ^ Gibbs-Smith (1953) p.239
  8. ^ Elliott p.11
  9. ^ Sanger (2008) p.5
  10. ^ Elliot 2000 pp.16-18
  11. ^ Sanger (2008) pp.5-6
  12. ^ Sanger (2008) pp.92-3
  13. ^ Elliott 2000 p.53
  14. ^ Gibbs-Smith (1953) p.239
  15. ^ Sanger (2008) pp.6-8
  16. ^ Sanger (2008) p.125
  17. ^ Prix Osiris awarded to Aviation Flight International19 June 1909
  18. ^ Gibbs-Smith (1953) pp.96-7
  19. ^ Gibbs-Smith (1953) pp.96-7
  20. ^ "Balloon Intelligence". Daily Universal Register (8 January 1785): p. p2. 
  21. ^ a b Walsh, Barbara. Forgotten Aviator Hubert Latham pp. 93-97.
  22. ^ "R/V Tautog". Small Vessel Fleet. University of Connecticut, Marine Sciences. http://www.marinesciences.uconn.edu/MSTC/Vesselops/rv_small.html. Retrieved 1 January 2010. 
  23. ^ Elliott 2000 p.96ff
  24. ^ Elliott 2000 p.113
  25. ^ Gibbs-Smith (1953) p.255
  26. ^ Sanger (2008) pp.92-3
  27. ^ Mackersey (2003) p.440
  28. ^ Jane (1913)
  29. ^ Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1938
  30. ^ Taylor (1989) p.161-5
  31. ^ Sanger (2008) p.16
  32. ^ Sanger (2008) pp.22-5
  33. ^ Sanger (2008) pp.27-31
  34. ^ "Inspects Newark Airport". New York Times. 17 October 1934. http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F70615FB35551B728DDDAE0994D8415B848FF1D3. Retrieved 26 July 2009. "Louis Bleriot Predicts Oversea Service Within Four Years." 
  35. ^ "Bleriot, First To Fly English Channel, Is Dead". Chicago Tribune. 2 August 1936. "Lindbergh of Day Victim of Heart Attack at 64. Louis Bleriot, 64, famous French aviator who first flew the English channel, died today. Bleriot, who became an engineer after his air career, ..." 
  36. ^ FAI Louis Blériot medal winner listing
  37. ^ Centenary flight reprise.
  38. ^ Class 221 101 Louis Blériot
  39. ^ Rivendell Blériot

[edit] Bibliography

  • Elliot, B.A. Blériot: Herald of an Age. Stroud: Tempus, 2000. ISBN 0 7524 1739 8
  • Gibbs-Smith, C.H. A History of Flying. London: Batsford, 1953.
  • Grey, C.G. Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1938.London: David & Charles 1972. IBSN 0715 35734 4
  • Jane, F. T., Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1913. Newton Abbot: David & Charles 1969.
  • Mackersey, i. The Wright Brothers. London: Little, Brown 2003. ISBN 0-316-86144-8
  • Sanger, R. Blériot in Britain.Tonbridge: Air Britain, 2008. ISBN 978-0-85130-399-4
  • Taylor, M. J. Jane's Encyclopedia of Aviation. New York:Portland House, 1989. ISBN 0-517-69186-8

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